Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

@Alchemilla - Yes, the 'one person cuts & the other chooses' was not a sibling sharing methodology known to my Mum. It would have saved a lot of fruitless measuring of identical items by my sister & I!

@scandimore - Yes, we're hoping things will settle with our v nervous cat. He's enjoyed some fuss today & been purring, but everything is still a huge deal for him. He no longer wants to live in a cupboard, though, so that's a bit of progress.

F

foxgloves

Evening m'dears,
Uneventful day. Not a no-spend one, either, as I ordered some preserving supplies which I was unable to get locally yesterday.
Jammed my 2nd batch of marmalade. Chopped up a wrinkly additional orange from the fruit basket to chuck in, as Mr F had pronounced it "too mankrous to eat". Also made a batch of Cranks broccoli soup. It made 5 portions, now frozen. As all the other ingredients are very standard stuff, this is a good recipe for if one happens to spot a decent wodge of yellow-stickered broccoli. I just trim the dry ends off the main big stalks which are chopped & used to make up the weight too. 
Very quiet house tonight. Soot snoozing on a windowsill, Ash upstairs on a blanket on my HQ chair, I'm talking to you & Mr F is fuming about a senior management oversight which is going to impact on his team. 
I think I'll finish reading my book & choose the next one. I do love a good reading pile.
F x

Sun_Addict

He’ll come round eventually. Any progress is good. 

My mum used to have a feral cat living in a tree in her garden. He’d only ever appear for food and wouldn’t let her fuss him or come indoors, he was really timid.  Eventually he cracked and started coming inside her house and became quite affectionate in his old age. He never had a proper name as my mum still called him “that black and white cat” 🤣

foxgloves

Yes, I think he will, @Sun_Addict, it's just going to take time. He's discovered his new igloo bed today, which is good, having spent £42 on the blimming thing! Mr F did point out one at half the price but it was in a fabric pattern/colours I wouldn't buy in any other form for our house, so stuck with the more expensive one.
I agree that even ferals can come round to a domestic setting in time, & Ash isn't feral. He likes strokes & fuss and purrs. He is scared of actually being approached by humans & I think that would appear to point to ill treatment at some point.
F x

foxgloves

Hello Saturday Savers, 
A good start to my morning as Mr F volunteered to tackle the chemical warfare in the litter trays. Then a drive to a neighbouring town finally to collect the car we ordered in August. Was worried that the 5 months of extra mileage, wear & tear plus a minor piece of damage would mean a reduced part-ex offer, but the strong price of used vehicles atm meant that the quote held.
A good article in today's Guardian about food waste & how it is literally chucking money in the bin. We aim to be a zero food waste household & also compost non-edibles like peelings, eggshells, coffee grounds, etc, so I read it more from my interest in the subject than because I need to make changes. I was struck by the following piece of maths. The writer of the article pointed out that the average family wastes between £700 & £800 worth of food per year. This just happens to be the expected rise in annual household energy bills this year. So one way of freeing up a bit more money for these scary energy bill increases would be to tackle food waste. An interesting article.
Anyway, stay cosy - it was so icy here this morning, I had to hang onto Mr F walking up the slope to the car showroom, even though I had my hiking boots on - & enjoy your evenings, 
F xx

Alchemilla

Glad you got your new motor.

Can I ask when I should plant Ranunculus bulbs? I've been gifted some with compost and a pretty pot.

BlueJ94

Evening @foxgloves

Recently I haven't really been on here much, well I have just not posting. Just in the background checking in. I've lost motivation again recently to kick debts butt, but I always end up coming back to your diary for a kick up my own butt! I find out on the 5th if Sainsburys are offering me a permanent contract and if so I'll be keeping both jobs until my debt is paid in full and then I'm planning on leaving my full time job once I've got some pennies saved and feel comfortable enough to do so!

I also haven't been budgeting or planning as much recently, although my OH bought me a lunch bag for Christmas and I do make packed lunches more. Just wanted to check in with you, having caught up on your thread.

Hope 2022 is treating you well so far x

Blackcats

Good news about the new car.
my older rescue cat was a stray and definitely ill treated - he only has half a tail .... some evil idiot thought that attaching a firework to a tail was funny.  So he is still wary of fast movements, hands raised around him even if it's just going in for a stroke too quickly and as I've mentioned is very twitchy when eating.  However, he is so much more confident now - he's asleep on the arm of the sofa next to me snoring quietly.  In the early days I had a little sing song chant that I used whenever I approached him or he approached me along the lines of "good boy black cat, well done black cat, brave boy black cat".  I still use it now as it seems to signal that everything is ok.  I was also told to blink my eyes when looking at him as this demonstrates no threat.
so basically, wander around blinking profusely, scattering cat treats and chanting a mantra .... perfectly normal, honest 🤦‍♀️

foxgloves

Are there no instructions on your bulbs kit, @Alchemilla? I can't help as it's not a bulb I've ever grown..... in fact, I didn't know Ranunculus are a bulb. I think the genus is buttercup family.
I'm sure that planting info can easily be found online. 
F

Alchemilla

foxgloves said:

Are there no instructions on your bulbs kit, @Alchemilla? I can't help as it's not a bulb I've ever grown..... in fact, I didn't know Ranunculus are a bulb. I think the genus is buttercup family.
I'm sure that planting info can easily be found online. 
F

None that I can find, I will google.